A Chatham County Superior Court judge has struck down a portion of Savannah's historic district height map and handed a victory to preservationists.

Judge Perry Brannen removed language from the ordinance that states developers "shall" be able to build to the limits of the height map and said the Savannah City Council illegally adopted the language in 2003.

The rest of the height map ordinance is still in force.

Preservationists said that language took control away from the Historic Review Board and allowed buildings to be constructed that were not compatible with nearby homes and other structures.

"It says that visual compatibility is a factor," Dolly Chisholm, an attorney for the Beehive Foundation, said of the injunction.

With the ruling, Brannen also stopped development of a five-story condominium project proposed by developer Julius Bennett on West Liberty Street. Preservationists decried the project as visually incompatible, but it was approved anyway because the height limit there was five stories.

Approval of that project spurred the Beehive Foundation, the Historic Savannah Foundation and the Downtown Neighborhood Association to sue the city. They successfully claimed the height map was improperly adopted in 2003 because the City Council never sent changes back to the Metropolitan Planning Commission.

"The city of Savannah is going to have to take this height ordinance back to the MPC for some public hearings if we want to clarify it," said Mark McDonald, executive director of the Historic Savannah Foundation.

The height map took years to complete, with a citizen's task force working on the new guidelines and the planning commission approving them. It was designed to dictate the maximum heights of new buildings downtown.

The height map then went to the City Council for a final vote. But council members wanted the language on height to be more definitive.

So they added: "Maximum heights on the height map shall be permitted."

That language allowed the Liberty Street condo project to be approved.

City Manager Michael Brown testified during a hearing that the amendment and the ordinance were never sent back to the planning commission or the committee that reviewed the height recommendations.

The planning commission is a recommending board only. The City Council can vote for or against a commission recommendation.

Attorneys for the preservationists argued that it should have gone back to the planning commission, and Brannen agreed. He further found the city never provided the text amendment for public viewing in the City Clerk's Office.

"Plaintiffs have clearly shown through direct testimony that Defendants manifestly abused their discretion and power by circumventing properly enacted ordinances in order to pass a text amendment that would not have been recommended by the MPC," Brannen wrote.

"Furthermore, Defendants prevented not only the MPC from debating the amended language, they prevented the public from giving its input by not properly noticing and providing the proposed text changes in accordance with (the laws)."

City Attorney James Blackburn did not want to talk in detail about the ruling because the City Council will have to decide what to do next.

"There is doubt, in view of this, of just where (the height map) stands, and we will study it and make some determinations," he said.

However, Brannen said developer Bennett can re-apply for permits and approvals under the height-map ordinance without the offending language. Bennett paid $2.2 million for the property across the street from the Savannah Civic Center.

The height limit on that section of Liberty Street is five stories and had been five stories before the new ordinance was enacted.

"We have followed all the procedures that we knew to follow in the ordinance, and we got the approvals we thought we needed," said Jon Hart, an attorney for Bennett. "Based on those approvals, the client has spent tremendous sums of money. We don't really have any choice to appeal the ruling and hope the city of Savannah will do the right thing and straighten out the ordinance."

McDonald said the ruling gives the city the ability to debate the height rules more thoroughly and consider questions such as whether developers can build up to the limits without regard for nearby property.

"We shouldn't have this situation where we have the city slip a sentence in when citizens worked for two years on a task force," he said.

ON THE WEB

To read Superior Court Judge Perry Brannen's injunction against the city and the developer of a Liberty Street condominium building, go to savannahnow.com/read.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for
following agreed-upon rules of civility. Posts and
comments do not reflect the views of this site. Posts and comments are
automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some
comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules,
click the "Flag as offensive" link below the comment.